The trifluoromethyl tetrafluoro‐λ6‐sulfanyl (CF3SF4) group is both extraordinarily lipophilic and profoundly electron withdrawing, properties associated with polar hydrophobicity. Utilization of the CF3SF4 group to prepare novel materials or biologically active agents will not be possible without new methods for the synthesis of aliphatic CF3SF4‐substituted building blocks. To advance those studies, trichloromethanesulfenyl chloride was conveniently converted to trans‐trifluoromethyl tetrafluoro‐λ6‐sulfanyl chloride (CF3SF4Cl) by oxidative chlorofluorination. Triethylborane‐promoted addition reactions of trans‐CF3SF4Cl to substituted olefins and alkynes yielded a variety of new materials. Those addition products were subsequently transformed to CF3SF4‐substituted carboxylic acids, CF3SF4‐substituted ketones, and a CF3SF4‐substituted aldehyde.

The activation of tetrafluoropropenes at rhodium silyl and germyl complexes revealed various reaction pathways such as the generation of organic derivatives of the substrate and a rhodium fluorido complex or the formation of rhodium vinyl complexes.

The reaction of [Rh(H)(PEt 3 ) 3 ]( 1)w ith the refrigerant HFO-1234yf (2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene) affords an efficient route to obtain [Rh(F)(PEt 3 ) 3 ]( 3)b yC À Fb ond activation. Catalytic hydrodefluorinations were achieved in the presence of the silane HSiPh 3 .Inthe presence of afluorosilane, 3 provides aC ÀHb ond activation followed by a1 ,2-fluorine shift to produce [Rh{(E)-C(CF 3 )=CHF}(PEt 3 ) 3 ]( 4). Similar rearrangements of HFO-1234yf were observed at [Rh(E)-(PEt 3 ) 3 ][E= Bpin (6), C 7 D 7 (8), Me (9)].The ability to favor C À Hb ond activation using 3 and fluorosilane is also demonstrated with 3,3,3-trifluoropropene.S tudies are supported by DFT calculations.

The CF2 group is incorporated into specific positions within the lactone ring of the natural musk lactone, (12R)-(+)-12-methyl-13-tridecanolide, a constituent of Angelica root oil, Angelica archangelica L. The approach is taken as it was anticipated that CF2 groups would dictate corner locations in the macrocycle and limit the conformational space available to the lactone. Three fluorine containing lactones are prepared by organic synthesis. One (8) has CF2 groups located at the C-6 and C-9 positions, another (9) with CF2 groups at the C-5 and C-9 positions, and a third (10) with a CF2 group at C-8. Two of the fluorine containing lactones (8 and 10) were sufficiently crystalline to obtain X-ray crystal structures which revealed that the CF2 groups do adopt corner locations. All three lactones were subject to computational analysis at the B3LYP-D3/6-311+G** level to assess the relative energies of different conformers. In all cases, the global minima and most of the lowest energy minima have squared/rectangular geometries and located the CF2 groups at the corners. The lowest energy structures for 8 and 10 closely approximated the observed X-ray structures, suggesting good convergence of theory and experiment in determining relevant low energy conformations. All three compounds retained a pleasant odour suggesting the rings retained sufficient conformational flexibility to access relevant olfactory conformations.